


Tales of the Blue Sapphire

by Pies_and_Poufsouffle



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Fairy Tale Style, Folk Tale, Gen, bedtime story, spoilers for 2x93, spoilers for e093, the great cupcake escapade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27084274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pies_and_Poufsouffle/pseuds/Pies_and_Poufsouffle
Summary: Have you heard tell of the Blue Sapphire? A hero of the ages, and her friends the Mighty Nein. Their exploits are legendary, so let me share some with you.A re-telling of some of the events of Campaign 2 in the style of folk tales or fairy tales. Jester in particular, what with effectively founding a whole religion, and fulfilling that trickster archetype, seems like she end up in a mythology or two if she isn't careful.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre & The Mighty Nein, The Mighty Nein & The Mighty Nein
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Tales of the Blue Sapphire

**Author's Note:**

> This is the story of Jester and Isharnai, translated through time and re-tellings as a bedtime story. I hope you like it.

**The Blue Sapphire and the Hag**

You want another tale of the Blue Sapphire? But you have heard so many before!

Surely you must be sick of them by now?

Oh, very well then. Just one more tale, but after this you must go to sleep, dear one. It’s getting late, and you have much to do come the morrow.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin...

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is a tale of Blue Sapphire and her friends, the Mighty Nein, the faithful companions she travelled with throughout her journeys. A tale from when her renown was less, and her powers much diminished from what we know they would come to be.

One of her companions, one of the Nein, had been cursed by a Hag, trapped in a form that was not their own, and in that state, they could never find happiness. Now what was an affliction for one of the Nein, was one for all of them, for their happiness was each other’s, and none could find true joy whilst their companion suffered. So, they gathered themselves, and travelled deep into the darkest, dreariest forest, to seek out the Hag that had caused so much suffering.

They searched long and well, and with the aid of the Traveller, the Sapphire’s constant guide, they came upon the hut of the Hag, a miserable creature who lived only to extract as much misery as possible from every living being they came across. The Hag would not free their friend easily, but they were a creature of deals and bargains, and could be persuaded to a trade, if they were offered something that would cause even more pain than the original curse.

And so, one by one, the Nein went in to bargain.

The first, the cursed one, the one they called brave, offered to turn against the goals they had sworn, to bring conflict, rather than peace. To bring pain and suffering to the residents of a continent. A heavy price indeed.

The second, a scholar and diplomat, offered her life. Not literally, but offered to abandon the Nein, the best and truest family she had ever known, the first and best to accept her for herself. A more exquisite pain than the suffering of nations, as both she and the Nein would never heal from the pain of such a severance, a pain worse than if she had in truth died.

Both told the group of the offers they had made, and others made to enter the Hut, to make their own bargains. They were not fast enough, for already, the third guest had already entered the Hag’s Hut.

And the third was the Sapphire, who had been thinking long this whole time.

She did not like this Hag, who brought only pain, for the Sapphire was laughter and brightness, and lived to bring joy to those around her, to spread delight, not suffering.  
She did not think it was fair that they should have to give something up to return their friend to the way she was supposed to be. She did not think that was fair at all.  
So, she went to bargain with the ancient, wily Hag.

She went, voice shaken and unsure, and offered her hands, and with them her ability to cast spells, to create, to draw and to sculpt and to do so much that brought her happiness.

Little did the Hag know, her best and most valuable offering was not her hands. Her finest, and most fatal weapon was her tongue.  
For the silver-tongued Sapphire smiled, and she was kind to the Hag, and she shared what little she had with the Hag, and she offered the ancient Hag, who had been treated with nothing but fear their entire existence, half of a blueberry cupcake.

And the Hag accepted.

If this were a different story, a less real story, perhaps that act of kindness would have been enough to persuade the Hag to change her ways. She would have learned the value of friendship or some such thing, and would have removed the curse and lived in peace for the rest of her days.

But the Hag was ancient, and had been selfish and cruel for a very, very long time. It would take more than a cupcake to undo centuries of malice.

And the Sapphire knew this.

The cupcake she gave was not a gift, it was a trap. Subtle and simple and sweet.

With a whispered word and a twist of her hands, the very hands she had pretended to offer, the Sapphire overwhelmed the Hag’s twisted mind.

For the Hag, the world became that kinder, happier place. Just for a moment, well the memory of a moment, the Hag became and kinder, happier Hag.

The Hag believed, firmly, that the Sapphire’s words, her joy and kindness, her conversation, had been enough to sweeten her bitterness. Just enough to earn her friend’s freedom from that terrible curse. And in that the Hag wasn’t entirely wrong, it was just cunning, rather than compassion, that had brought about the change. A very temporary change.

No violence, no tragic sacrifices. Just a simple trick. Not a bad deal for half a cupcake.

And the Sapphire left swiftly, warm as the summer breeze, careful to conceal her disdain for the Hag, and she went to her friends, and she told them that all was well, and that they should leave now. Hurriedly they left, as far from the Hag as they could be, lest they notice what was amiss and take after them.

And as she had promised, a little time later, she sent the Hag more cupcakes. Just because that first sweet treat had not been enough to sway them did not mean they might be entirely beyond the help of compassion, after all.

And that was the end of the tale. At least until the Hag decided to claim her revenge…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

But that is a story for another time, dear one.

Now is the time for you to sleep, safe in the knowledge that though there may be dark and twisted things in this world, with cleverness and kindness and just a little luck, they can and shall be vanquished.

Good night.


End file.
